Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689 - 1762)

English aristocrat, wife of the British ambassador to Turkey, defied convention by introducing smallpox inoculation into Western medicine. While visiting the Ottoman Empire, she leant about Turkish customs and witnessed the practice of inoculation against smallpox. Lady Mary was eager to spare her children the suffering of smallpox, so in 1718 she had her son Edward inoculated. On her return to London, she promoted the procedure, despite resistance from the medical establishment.

Known for
Chiefly remembered for her letters from travels to the Ottoman Empire, which have been described by Billie Melman as "the very first example of a secular work by a woman about the Muslim Orient".

Aside from her writing, Lady Mary is also known for introducing and advocating for smallpox inoculation to Britain after her return from Turkey.

Her writings address and challenge the hindering contemporary social attitudes towards women and their intellectual and social growth

Widely traveled; lived in many countries, had many romantic relationships, including one aborted one when Alexander Pope declared his love to her and she responded with laughter.

Find more
Wikipedia

Muslilm Heritage entry (long entry with great references at the end)

Grundy, Isobel, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Comet of the Enlightenment. Oxford University Press, 1999; new edition in paperback in 2001 (read online here).